On the Aftermath of a Road Trip

The six of us just traveled to and from Texas to visit good friends. Which, as you can imagine, means the van now resembles the car from a movie about a recently-fired executive who reluctantly travels cross-country with his stoner brother to visit their hometown, where each of them will unexpectedly learn about life, love and redemption as they finally face, and overcome, the demons of their past: there are food-stained wrappers and bags; half-empty ketchup packets; empty water bottles; trampled books; discarded electronics; 6 cubic feet of paper scraps; random pieces from 17 different board games; a replica of a Ming Dynasty-era urn that may or may not hold the cremains of a famous Ukrainian circus performer; a javelin from the 1936 Summer Olympics; a 5 gallon can of expired tapioca pudding from a defunct retirement home; and a signed life sized poster of Hakeem Olajuwon.